The High Place
by WyldeGod
Summary: Max visits the needle late one evening and finds two men fighting. They are revved somehow but before Max can ask questons, one dies and one jumps...
1. Default Chapter

This is a mid season one fic that has no connection to anything on the show.  It's just a fic I wrote while bored one night.  It doesn't really have any major significance in the DA universe and it isn't connected to anything I'm currently editing.  It's just a story.

I hope you all enjoy it and let me know what you think.  I've been out of the loop for a few days so I'm looking for a lot of reviews.  Let me know and again, enjoy! 

**The High Place**

        She stood in the rain waiting for something to happen.  Nothing did.  It just kept raining.  She looked up to the needle, The High Place.  Ever since Ben's death she had started to think about it like that.  She didn't think of it as the abandoned space needle anymore.  It had become The High Place in honor of Ben.  The only one of the twelve to continue the mission, to carry the hunt to the outside even if what he did best had been wrong.  Shit happens.  That much is certain and again she found herself leaving Logan's on her way to The High Place...

          There it was again.  The High Place.

          Max looked up and immediately dropped her eyes to honor Ben, even if only for a second.  She would be up there soon enough.  Someday she would bring the others up there and they would all rip out a tooth or something.  She smiled at the childhood memory.  She looked up to the sky and thanked The Lady and Father Destry simply for being and then she started to run.  The High Place was calling to her.

          Logan was pulling wheelies in his chair.  Bling had left for the night and Max had run off using one of her lame old excuses about curfew as if she would even be caught to begin with.  Why didn't he just ask her to stay?  Why didn't he just plop himself down on the couch and pull her into his arms?

          "WHY..." he yelled as he lost control and fell backward.  Rolling out across the floor he laughed quietly to himself.  He waited, but Max was gone and Bling had left.  He lifted himself and when the depression set in he realized he was truly alone on another rainy night in Seattle.  Alone again.  Logan pushed himself up and moved over to the chair using his weight to hold him in position and then hoisting himself up and into the accursed chair.  He laughed again as he rolled past that "exo-thingy" as Max called it wondering if she could get the parts he needed to make it work and then putting it out of his mind.  Better to keep her out of the loop on that one, more afraid she would be willing to jump the fence at a DOD compound and put herself at risk to help him above anything else.  'I had better call Sebastian and see if he was able to locate that info."  He thought to himself.

          Max was almost to the top when she heard two distinct voices.  Her first thought was that some X-5s had sought out the High Place.  Zack, Tinga and Jace all knew she was in Seattle and Zack or Tinga had probably told a couple of the others so maybe... just maybe...

          "To the death, then."  It was a distinct commanding voice.

          'Death.'  Thought Max.  'At The High Place.  Not on My High Place!'

          She finished her climb and poked her head up cautiously to get some recon before going into action.  Two men stood there.  Both were warriors.  She could tell by looking at them, by the way they moved.  They weren't Red Series.  They were too highly trained.  There was something about the taller one though.  Something familiar about him resonated within her.  She knew he would win just by watching him.  He had serenity about him and waited patiently for the short stocky one to make his attack.  The other one was just as accomplished, but his demeanor was one of hyper-activity, dangerous to the core with tricks of his own.  His soul was of a darker path, an evil one.  She had climbed into the middle of a personal war and should probably leave but there was something about the tall, calm one.  She decided to watch.

          "This doesn't have to happen this way."  He said.  "You could just leave and no one would ever know you walked away."

          "You would know.  I would know.  It has to be this way.  How long has this been building between us?  How much time could we possibly have left anyhow?  I am tired."  The short stocky one said dropping into an offensive posture.  "I want that 'Kill-Ball' court back home and the stolen Little Kings after again."

          "Things were simpler then my friend, but let's face it... full-contact basketball on a cement court wasn't the wisest of our youthful decisions.  Have our decisions become better since those days?  No.  There is just more at stake now.  We're not back in that elementary school.  We're not tackling each other on that basketball court.  We screw up and people in this world die.  One of us falls to our death and the other loses a part of his soul.  It doesn't have to be..." The tall one ducked and countered, then rolled past the stocky one's attack.  Max was sure these two were crazy pulling these techniques on this slick, rain-soaked surface.

          "It is a perfect night to die buddy!"  The stocky one shouted as he followed up with a middle roundhouse kick and a spin punch into the rainy night air.  The tall one dashed back to the edge of The High Place and moved up toward the middle.  The stocky one smoothed his movements and paced after his enemy, apparently, his friend.

          Max was stunned.  These two were old, old, **old friends and they were trying to kill each other.  They talked as if they had know each other since grade school, maybe before and here they were risking their own lives trying to take the other one's.  She had to put a stop to it but watching them she realized they were moving fast.  Almost superhuman fast as if they had been themselves engineered.  There were no visible weapons, only lightning skills and mad, insane determination.  The movements were almost hard for Max to follow, but she did.**

          They lunged and rolled and swung and kicked.  They spun on each other and locked wrists, looking for an in to end it.  There were Push Hands techniques and Snake and Monkey Style attacks.  The small one used Muy Thai and some Drunken Boxing.  The tall one relied mostly on Taijutsu but she could see that he learned his basic skills in any number of martial arts.  Most likely these two had seen far too much combat in their lives.

          Max had heard of Ninja, hell, she was one for all intents and purposes, but this tall one... Max flashed back to the close quarters combat she had with Ben.  That was much harder for her to deal with than what these two were about, but her intuition was enough for her to realize she was not in their league.  She could possibly take the stocky one, but the tall one...  His reality was one of smooth reaction to any action.  He was in complete control.  He would be impossible to defeat and in the end, it would come down to experience.  This he obviously had.

          She watched him.  His movements were almost poetic.  He was absolutely perfect with each and every technique.  The Stocky One was almost as good, but Max could see flaws in his technique.  He was easily agitated and his anger was just outside of something resembling control.  She could see frustration in his eyes.  He spun a kick low and came around with a punch high, but The tall one was ready for it and she almost felt the elbow snap.  The sound wrenched her back to Ben's knee snapping as The  tall one swept his friends knee.  The bone broke through the skin and The Stocky One went down, but only to his good knee.  He had lost and he knew it.

          "I am sorry, old friend."  The tall one said.

          "I am not.  Now we know.  The question is finally answered."  The stocky one held out his hand.  Max panicked.  It was the oldest trick in the book.  The tall one reached out and they shook hands.  "The Neck."  

          The tall one nodded and walked around behind his friend.  There was a slight squelch and the body tumbled forward to rest at the victor's feet.  Max cried for some reason she could not fathom, but when a soldier dies, you pay your respects.  Then she heard a low rumble.  It grew and she realized it was coming from the tall one.  His head suddenly turned to the sky and he screamed, yelling into the night with a voice that was not human, but then she wasn't certain that what she witnessed was humanly possible.

          And then it got really weird.  The soldier walked up the slope of the dome a ways and pulled a backpack on.  He walked back to his friend, lifted him in his arms and spoke quietly.  "Blood on the Risers, buddy."  He turned his head, looked directly into Max's eyes and winked.  Then he jumped over the edge.

          Max stood.  He had known all along she was watching.  She walked out to the edge in a daze.  She looked down, but could see nothing in the inky black rain falling from some darker place this night.

          "And then he jumped, Logan!  Just like that he jumped with his dead friend in his arms."  She was looking out the window.  It was still raining, and the sun wouldn't be up for a couple more hours.  She came back here and found Logan sleeping in his chair, wheels locked and legs set up on the couch.  Some Eyes Only stuff in his lap and scattered around the floor.  She wondered if he did this often but she knew him well enough.  She knew he did.  She woke him and started to tell her weird story momentarily forgetting about Logan's sleeping arrangements.

          "He had to have a parachute.  Are you sure you couldn't see anything?  Anything at all?"  Logan asked.  "No sounds either."  He had seen Max at screwed up times in her life, but she had never been this confused.

          "Nothing, Logan.  Nothing.  Just the rain.  One moment their fighting then he winked at me and jumped..."

          "He winked at you?  He knew you were there?"

          "Yeah.  The tall one did, but the stocky one didn't.  I am sure of it.  There was something about this man.  He was not all he seemed.  He was not all human.  He was revved up somehow.  His movements were too precise, to perfect and way too fast."

          "What do you mean?  'Not all human?'  Were they an older Manticore series?"  Logan asked now confused.  First Max watched two apparently superhuman warriors, duke it out on top of the space needle.  One killed the other.  Both were old friends and then the survivor winked at Max before jumping into the darkness of a rainy night and disappearing into thin air.  "Maybe X-3 or 4?"  He asked.  She shook her head.

          "Too old.  The tall one was maybe fifty or sixty, somewhere in that range."

          "Red Series?"  Logan asked.

          "I don't know Logan.  I doubt it.  They would have come after me I think.  I just don't know.  I'm sorry I woke you.  We'll talk tomorrow.  I gotta blaze."  She said as she always did.  Logan saw his chance.  He decided to take it.

          "Stay here tonight.  You can have my bed and I will make sure you get up in time for work.  I'm waiting for a call from Sebastian and I'm going to be up until he calls anyway.  He had a lead on some genetics experiments in the early eighties and was following up on it for me.  Supposedly these experiments were the keys to unleashing the Human Genome Project in the eighties and nineties.  Some of which led to your birth.  I have some leads of my own that I am working on.  When Sebastian calls me back I can give you some information.  Besides, I wouldn't mind the company now that I am awake."  He hadn't intended to blurt out like that but he could see Max thinking.  She wanted to stay.  He could see it in her eyes.  "Stay and talk with me.  Are you hungry?"

          "No.  But I will stay.  Tell me about this Genome Project.  I have never really heard much about it."  She said as she sat down on the opposite side of the couch.

          "Back in the early eighties, some scientists in France, India and The US unlocked the secret to DNA.  They discovered they had proof of how a certain arrangement within a strand of DNA affected the outcome of experiments with lab mice.  They started to map this DNA and for the next several years..." Logan was talking mechanically at this time.  He wanted to roll over and hold Max in his arms until she fell asleep, but knew he wouldn't and that she wouldn't.  It was enough that she finally decided to stay the night.  He knew she was listening but that her mind was on that  tall one jumping off of the needle.  They were both happy, even if it was a strange form of happiness.

          Sebastian had called soon after the Genome conversation ended.  Max left Logan lost in some technical mumbo jumbo when she saw his eyes lighting up with numbers and information and leads to more of the same.  She felt it was better to leave him to his work.  Bling was coming in just as she was heading out so Logan would be okay.

          Herbal smiled a wide smile as Max walked up to the gang over near the television.

          "Hey."  Max said.

          They all nodded.  Sketchy chimed in with a story of how wild the party was the night before.  He spoke of everything that Max missed exaggerating and embellishing as was his way.  Original Cindy noticed Max was preoccupied when she just wandered away and started poking around in her locker.

          "Whassup, Boo?  You okay?"  OC asked.

          "I'm fine.  Same as always.  Something big happened last night.  I was out.  There were these two guys and they were fighting..."

          "You mean like arguing or actually puttin' a smack down?"  OC asked.

          "It was a fight to the death."

          "Did you break it up?"

  
          "I couldn't move.  I didn't want to."  Max explained.  "I heard their conversation and I realized they were actually old friends and I mean from like way back before the pulse.  Long before you and I were born.  I know by their own words they had grown up together."

          "And they were fighting to the death?"

          "Yes."  Max said.

          "You didn't let that happen, did you?"  OC asked.

          "I couldn't stop it."  Max said looking into Cindy's eyes.  "I was out of my league last night.  These guys could have made mincemeat of The Red Series and not broken a sweat.  I wasn't putting myself between them.  After about twenty minutes of lightning skills and technique, the tall one killed the other guy.  He pulled his friend over his shoulder and then he jumped off of The Space Needle."

          "He jumped off?"  OC asked before realizing what Max had just said.  "Wait, what were you doing on the Space Needle?"

          "These guys were trained better than I was or at least before I was.  He winked at me, the tall one, and then he jumped.  He had to have a chute, but I couldn't see one in the darkness below.  He jumped and then disappeared."

          "He winked at you?  He knew you were there?"  OC seemed stunned, but she had come to expect the strange black-copter stuff from her best friend.  "What does Logan think about all this?"

          "He is as stunned as I am, but he is looking for information."  Max said.

          "I got a hot run here."  Normal yelled from somewhere.

          Max stood and started for the run.  She needed time to think and although it wasn't her Ninja, her other bike would do in a pinch.  "I got it!"  She shouted to Normal.  "The only thing is we have no idea where to start looking."  Max said as she grabbed the package and headed out.

          Sebastian's head was rocking from side to side.  "We have the information you need to go forward with this story, but it holds no bearing on anything in the informant net.  This is outside of all you have ever worked on."  His disembodied mechanical voice said.

          "I know, but a group of genetically altered soldiers created or re-created back in the late nineteen-eighties is news in itself.  The information of their release into society in the late nineties as if they were normal is too much.  If even half of this stuff is true then Manticore would look like a Boy Scout troop.  Dig up all the info you can on each one individually and send it to me.  I will try to track their post pulse activities from this list of names."

          "I will talk to you later, Logan" Sebastian's disembodied voice said.

          The Government of the United States was creating enhanced soldiers back in the eighties and then releasing them to roam the world free of restrictions and with no supervision.  What kind of men were these individuals?  Where did they come from?  What was their motivation and what were their specialties in service?  Demolitions?  Snipers?  S and D?  Recon?  There had to be information.  Logan ran down a list of questions in his mind.

          "Hey, Max."  Bling's voice sounded from the other room.  "What brings you around today?" 

          "I had a delivery in the area and decided to take lunch with you guys.  Is Logan here?"

          "I'm in here!"  Logan hollered.

          Max poked her head around the corner and found Logan in front of his computer.  She walked over and before she could speak, she looked at the screen.  The picture on his screen was the stocky one from the night before.

          "That's the dead guy from last night.  Logan, that's the one that was killed."

          "What?  Are you sure?"  He asked.

          "Of Course."  She leaned in close to Logan.  They looked at each other.  A feeling passed between them and for a second both shared a small quick smile.  "I will never forget those two.  That's the short guy that lost the fight last night.  Who is he?"

          "He is Robert Pintauro, a member of an elite Special Forces unit that took part in a genetics experiment back in nineteen eighty-seven.  He and his squad were surgically and genetically altered to be more efficient soldiers long before we really understood what Genetic code could tell us.  They were given gifts that no one really understood.  Gifts of strength, speed and agility that made them beyond perfect."

          "Are there others?  See if the tall one is there."

          "Okay."

          Logan scrolled the list through a bunch of deceased soldiers before Max yelled in his ear.

          "THAT'S HIM!"  She shouted mere inches from his ear.

          "When my ear stops ringing..."  He said.

          "Sorry."  Max laughed into his ear.

          "So that's the guy, huh?"  Logan said as his phone rang.  "Colonel John Roberts."

          Two weeks later…

          Max walked her bike through the remnants of a park people had tried to restore as a sign of some kind after The Pulse.  It was mostly empty except for benches on one side of the medium sized block and a wall, formerly a row of connected buildings, now a row of food stands for the downtown office crowd that struggled to run the city daily.  Max and the gang would sometimes eat lunch here but today, she was running this whole sector by herself.

          Normal practically worshipped her on days like this when she didn't want to be distracted by anything.  It was almost a Zen thing.  What you are doing in that moment is all you are doing, in that moment… 'And at this moment, I am delivering packages all day if I have to.'  She thought to herself as she walked her bike over to her favorite falafel stand and looked down the lane a short way.  Something caught her eye.

          It was the colonel standing on the other side of the square talking to a man.  She stopped walking and refocused her eyes.  In the split second she focused on the two men, she realized they were both looking directly at her as if she were just a few feet away.  She stopped thinking for a second and watched.  They looked back to each other exchanging anger and some heated words before both looked back to Max.  The tall one did not look away as he started walking toward her from the far side.  He was near the benches on the north end of the park and Max needed to follow him through a crowd along a large block without breaking the eye contact or she would lose him.  The big tree would be the only tactical obstacle, but he wouldn't be able to draw away from it without her noticing.  She looked into his eyes.  They were deep inside of hers.

          She didn't sense danger so much as it was completely wrapped around her at that moment.  She watched him, looking directly at him when it happened.  He phased out right before her eyes.  He smiled and winked again just before he disappeared.  It was then she felt it crawling up her spine.  Something behind her only she couldn't see anything around her.  She turned, searching in all directions but could see nothing.  She couldn't even see the Colonel.  The second man was gone also and she realized her mistake, but it was too late.  She searched frantically trying to find either of them.

          Max stopped short of the canopy of the tree and looked around.  He was behind her suddenly and closing, his eyes flaming and full of something unnatural.  He is moving in on attack vectors with malice his only intent.  She tenses as she realizes there is more to the other one than the stocky one.  He is far more dangerous.  Suddenly she sees the Colonel again.  He is fading in between her and the other one.  They draw up facing each other just a few feet from where Max stands.

          "Another time perhaps.  We have a meeting to attend."

          "She is pure.  Look at her.  She is the only one here following our movements."

          "Another time."  The Colonel insisted.

          "Why are you protecting her?"  The new soldier asked.  His voice and his body faded out before her with her apparent protector beside him.

          And they were gone.

          Max burst into Logan's apartment mostly sure she wasn't followed.  Logan was sitting in front of his computer, talking to Sebastian.  "This is why Manticore came into existence."  She heard Sebastian's disembodied electronic voice.  "These men were prototypes for the whole genetic project in the United States.  They were test subjects to see what could be tweaked… They all have strength enhanced with primate genes and other land mammals.  Some, mostly the officers have DNA from some sea creatures.  Skill and agility are off the scale, Logan.  These soldiers are dangerous and exceptional.  Their group is unique.  They have had several alterations individually and none have been treated exactly the same way as the others.  They were given a failsafe though.  The end is coming for all of them."

          "What do you mean?"  Logan asked.

          "They were given a failsafe to insure their demise at an appropriate time."  Sebastian explained.

          Max enters the room.  "Do they have any flaws?  The Governments used to use drugs to enhance performance.  Are these guys on anything?"

           Logan looked up at Max.  Max looked down at Logon.  Sebastian started again.  "Hello Max.  How are you?"

          "Fine.  What do we know?  How do I beat them?"

          "Are they after you?"  Logan asked.

          "Some of them may be.  The Colonel is protecting me, though.  Tell me what you know about them, Sebastian."  Max said.

          "They are addicted to Adrenaline.  The US, German and European nations developed a formula to feed them in times of battle.  Adrenaline was a huge part of this.  They became addicted which may have been part of the plan all along.  All records up to the pulse speak of wars being fought by American troops and small battles and police actions here and there."

          Logan continues… "These guys were trained to be section leaders, mostly all Captains, a few Majors and apparently one Colonel.  Your tall one is the CO.  He's in it hard.  There were two groups in the experiment.  The first were pulled from the elite military groups.  The second were volunteers picked at random from three criteria.  They all had Martial Arts training from youth.  They all had high-test scores but no real commitments and they were all born in the same year.  They are all male."  Logan finished and Sebastian started again.

          "None of these men had a life expectancy beyond thirty-five years.  They should not be alive.  I have another call."  Sebastian smiled.  "Logan has all I know for now.  Goodbye, Max.  Logan."

          "I take it you have seen one of these guys."  Logan said.

          "Yes."  Max answered.  "I…"

          "Are you in danger?"

          "I'm not sure.  This Colonel, I saw him and another guy today.  Do you have those pictures still?"

          "Sure.  Let me find them."  Logan started racing through files.

          "He winked at me again and then he faded from my view."  Max started the story.  "Like smoke dissipating yet somehow more like he just turned himself off.  I watched him and the other one arguing.  They separated and then a few seconds later, the other one was coming toward me.  The Colonel turned himself back on and intercepted the other one.  He said something about me being pure and then asked The Colonel why he was protecting me.  His soldiers are the ones after me and I need to find out why."

          "Max.  I've been over these files.  These men are far more dangerous than the reds.  This is too dangerous and you know it.  What exactly do you mean they faded from your view?  Where did they go?"

          "I don't know.  One moment they were there in front of me talking.  I approached, and then they were gone.  It is weird, but I didn't perceive any physical danger.  It was more like I felt it.  There!"   She shouted.  "That's him."

          "Carter Ramsey is his name.  This guy is a real winner it seems.  He has black bags and deleted files across the board.  This guy is top of the line hardcore spec ops.  I imagine there are only a few old soldiers who ever knew he existed.  These guys are wandering around downtown?"

          "There are only a few of us left."  The Colonel said.

          Max spun around taking a position between Logan and The Colonel.  Her movements were fluid and her stance was centered, she was ready for a fight.  She stepped forward, wary, but ready to defend Logan.

          "You would lose such a battle, little one.  I am beyond your abilities.  Do not make me prove it.  I am not here to harm either of you."  He said.

          "What are you doing here?"  Logan demanded.

          "I followed the little one.  Max, I think you called her?"

          "That's my name."  Max answered.  "I will not let you harm anyone here."

          "I understand and I submit.  You win."  He said, laughing as he turned and headed toward the living room.  Logan rolled past Max.  Bling was sitting on the couch rubbing his head.  "He's quick.  He almost pulled his piece clear before I knocked him unconscious.  I am impressed."  The tall one reached behind his back.  He pulled a small pistol from his belt and tossed it to Bling.  Bling caught it and looked at the guy.  He raised the weapon, checking the cartridge.

          "I am sorry, friend.  I do not expect you will understand, but I did what I had to do.  I mean you no harm."

          "Tell us what you want."  Logan said.

          "Are you in charge of her unit?"

          "My unit?  What Unit?  What do you want?"  Max was losing patience.

          "It is as I suspected.  You two are working some personal angle on the immediate society.  You aren't even official military although I have seen your kind in battle before.  They are good, but the training is limited and centered on a singular line of thought.  There is no room for expansion or growth.  Too much Military can kill a man."  He mused.  He seemed lost in his own thoughts, remembering.  "They were efficient and well trained and followed orders to the letter, but they had no life of their own.  Empty beings each one, almost brainwashed."

          "What are you talking about?"  Logan asked.  The Colonel ignored him.

          "Tell me why you were up on the space needle.  Tell me what draws you there."  He turned to Max.

          "It is The High Place.  It is a place of honor where very few go.  Why were you up there and how did you get down."  Max explained.

          "I jumped."  He said.

          "Do you expect us to believe that you just jumped off of the space needle and landed softly on the ground?"  Logan asked

          "I don't care what you believe, only that you believe.  I will answer your questions.  I will answer them with truth that satisfies my needs.  The little one is something of interest to me."

          "You are interested in her adrenaline."  Logan's mind snapped to attention and the numbers began rolling.  "You want to drain her adrenal gland because you are addicted to it aren't you."

          "I have no interest in her adrenaline.  I have my own supply taken only in times of personal risk to myself.  I have grown accustomed to untimely dosages unlike some of my brothers."

          "Tell us about your 'brothers.'"  Max said.  "The one you killed up there.  He was your friend and from what I heard it was a very long friendship.  Why did you kill him?"

          "We reach a point where the body craves more than we can supply it.  There is a crash of our DNA and our chosen abilities begin to fail.  The heart loses its basis and our system slowly deteriorates.  It falls apart.  It is almost like implosion.  It is not fun.  Those who cannot control it seek me out and we duel.  One of us will always die."  The Colonel explained.

          "Why do they come to you?"  Logan asked.

"You have my records on your computer.  I am their commander.  They answer only to me.  I am Colonel John Roberts.  He moved an eye and looked at both of them simultaneously.  "We broke free of those who sought to control us so that we could live our own lives.  We escaped.  It wasn't until Franklin imploded that we learned about our terminal sequence."  He said looking deep into Max's eyes.

"So you just kill them."  Max whispered.

"It is The Way of the Samurai."  He said.  "We fight to live.  We live to die.  There is Honor there.  We are soldiers little one.  Just like you, our daily life is a path filled with tests and adventure and just like you we occasionally end up drunk in a backroom on a rainy night of mistrust in the self or crying over the body of a slain comrade and brother…"

"Ben…" Max breathed.

"What?"  Logan asked.  "What does he have to do with Ben?"

"You've been watching me?"  Max asked.

"I have been watching you for quite some time now.  Five of us faced this group of lunatic children not long ago.  Children… They were actually teenagers but highly trained.  They were sent out to us on a mission of great urgency for an old friend of mine.  I had agreed to do a job for him.  I called in a few of the lads…"

"You maintain contact…" Logan's interruption interrupted.

"I have never been out of touch with my men.  Our senses our hyperactive, all nine of them are beyond anyone's expectations back at the lab and we know this.  They wanted to eliminate us.  They arranged for us to head out to a remote island in the pacific in search of some craft of some kind.  I was suspicious from the beginning but I saw no harm in a small adventure to alleviate pressure in the hearts of my men.  You know a little R and R to alleviate the pressures of society.  These fifteen kids had orders to kill us once we reached the crash sight."

"How do you stay in touch with them?"  Logan asked.  The Colonel pointed to his head and smiled.  "Implant, a sort of subdermal comm system?"

"That explanation will suffice."  He said to Logan.  "I must go now.  None of my men will harm you Max.  I will not allow it.  Mr. Cale.  Perhaps we will meet again sometime soon."

"I have more questions..." Logan trailed off as The Colonel seemed to phase out of existence right there in the living room.  Max had seen this trick before and ran into the hall to see if he went up the sunroof or out the front door but he was nowhere in the apartment.  Logan had the same idea and came around the hall from the other direction and rolled up to Max.

"You did just see that.  Tell me you did."  Max said.

"I saw him then he was gone.  He just disappeared."  Logan said.

"It was more like he phased out slowly.  Like he dissolved."

"It must be your hyper-senses and genetic engineering.  Because he flat out disappeared. Took all of a second and he was gone."

"Logan, why would he want to protect me and what if the others are in trouble?"

"They are all here, in Seattle I mean.  Apparently they are here looking for you and if that is the case then you are in danger.  You have to leave Seattle.  Find Zach and get a team together..."

"That will not be necessary, Mr. Cale.  We have simply come here to die.  The discovery of the transgenic was an unexpected boon.  I will not let my men harm her."  The Colonel's voice came from nowhere in particular.  Max spun in the hall instantly on the defensive looking for a target eavesdropping on them.  She could see no one.  "Where are you?"  Logan yelled.  The Colonel was long gone though.

"Logan, what's happening?  Where is he?"

"I don't know, Max.  I just don't know."

Max turned and looked at Logan before reaching for the door handle.  "Where do you think you are going?"  Logan demanded.  Max smiled at him and turned to face him.  "I'm going to find him."  She said.

"How?  Apparently you have to be psychic or have some Psionic ability to even know that these warriors are around you.  The phase in and out..."  He paused and Max could see the energy in his eyes firing and fusing into something.  He was learning or at least theorizing and she could tell.  She watched him.  She stared deep into his eyes.  She could hear noises suddenly.  It all sounded like a great mass of people started shouting simultaneously into microphones.  She stared even deeper as she started to feel woozy from all of the activity in her presence.  "Telepathy!"  Logan shouted suddenly.

"Very good, Mr. Cale."

"Colonel?"  Max asked.

"I must let you two go now.  Do not exert yourselves for a few minutes as your mind adjusts to the link I have created."  Logan blinked as he noticed Max twisting in a fall to his side.  "Logan..." she said quietly, but confused.  His reflexes took over and he felt himself rolling over to her holding out his arms to catch her.  He pulled her to himself and then onto his lap as he slowly lost consciousness.

"Logan.  Where are we?"

"I don't know Maxie.  I think we are safe though."

"How can you tell?"

"I just feel it."

"Yeah, I can feel it.  What is it?"

"Peace."

Logan opened his eyes and looked into the brown eyes of Max.  He reached up and touched her cheek.  "Hey Maxie.  Are you Okay?"

"Do you listen to yourself, Logan?  You have been out for over an hour and before you even take in your surroundings and worry about yourself, you are asking if I am okay."

"So are you?  I should assume that you are by that sarcastic tone then."

"Yeah.  Something like that Logan.  Thanks."

"Sure."  He said to her trying to move from where she had placed him on the couch after he caught her.

"No Logan.  I am saying thank you.  I'm the superior super heroine and yet you still managed to catch me and secure me in your lap before you passed out.  Thank you.  It means something to me that you risk yourself on my behalf as much as you do."

Logan was still holding her cheek and she had reached up and took his hand into hers.  She was smiling.  "I'm really hungry.  How about you?"

"I could eat but I don't think you are in any shape to be cooking."

"I'll be fine Maxie."  Logan said as he realized for the first time that he was calling her the name he called her in the dream.  She seemed to realize it also.  They looked at each other for a few minutes as if trying to get that psychic link back.  When it didn't happen they both snickered and Max helped him into his chair.  They were silent as he cooked.  Max watched everything he did stepping in as needed.  There was no conversation, but they both looked into each others eyes and smiled with the other throughout the whole meal.  After dinner they did some random research and brainstorming with nothing useful occurring or showing up.  Max decided to work it out the old fashioned way.

"Max."  Logan said as she started to leave.  He didn't have to finish the thought.

"I promise I will be careful."  A wink and a smile later, she was gone.

Max had no idea where she was going.  She had no idea where to look for him.  She was wandering around aimlessly heading in the general direction of the needle as if she would find him there.  Several minutes had passed when she realized she was running to The High Place.  She looked around as she ran at a speed unmatched by those around her.  Many people looked in her direction seeing only an elusive shadow gone before it had appeared.  She watched the people as she ran like she hadn't run for a long time.  She looked off at the cars as she darted between them, at the bikes and motorcycles as she cut through streets on her way to the base of the Needle.  She saw something out of the corner of her eye on another block.  She ran along and caught it again one street over.  She could see something moving with her, shadowing her.  She continued running.  Whatever it was, it was faster than she was and would make its self known when it wanted to.  The Colonel said he would protect her from the rest of them.

She came up to the no man's land outside the perimeter of the needle.  Something was waiting for her.  Something was out here with her.  She could feel it.  One of them was here and it wasn't the Colonel.

"I know you are here."  She shouted.

"You are a smart girl."  A voice replied.

"Tell me something I don't know.  What do you want?"

"I want you to feed me."  The voice said from behind her.  She turned prepared for battle.  Instead, she found herself staring at The Colonel's back.

"Colonel?"  He was startled.  "What are you doing here?"

"The Little One is under my protection.  I will not allow you to harm her.   Nor will I allow YOU to harm her, Ramsey."  Max spun to see the other one standing behind her.  He had a dark smile but his eyes were different

"Even you would be hard pressed to combat two of us Colonel."

"I will still win.  I am in complete control of my senses and body.  You two are not.  Malcolm would have trouble with the girl and she could defend against him until I dispatched you.  Eventually, he may get the upper hand, but I would be finished with you by then.  Look at him, he is almost broken.  He just chased her across town and has nearly passed out from the exertion."

"It is true Major.  I am burned out.  I would ask that someone put me under.  I am willing to harm a child for my fix at this point.  Please."

Max stood close to The Colonel.  She was not afraid of this Malcolm.  He was weak after the run.  She could take him.  He was even starting to shake.  The Major was different.  He was in excellent shape easily stronger, faster and more highly trained than anyone of her brothers or sisters.  Probably stronger than all of them together.  "Why are you after me?"

"We went on a little mission.  Some nameless jungle somewhere and were set upon by our own troops, children ordered to kill us.  They got two of us before we tied them off in a cage.  They were eventually picked up but we had some of their juice.  It did things to those of us who tasted it.  It made us stronger than we already were.  It helped us live longer.  I WANT MORE!!!"  This Malcolm explained as he seemed to swell and grow larger in front of them.  He lunged at Max in desperation though as The Colonel reached out and caught him by the throat.  The man died instantly as his throat was crushed in the deadly grip.  The body made a dull thud as it hit the pavement under the Needle.

"Impressive as ever Colonel."  Ramsey said.  "I will not harm the girl.  You know that but the few of us left might."

"Then help me find them so I can get on with what is left of my life or tell me how we can get them to just go away and leave her alone.  She is not for us.  None of them are anymore.  We are passing beyond."

Max was standing behind The Colonel and peering at Ramsey from the safety of his left arm.  "You were going to attack me five hours ago... why the change of heart?"

"It was merely a test to assure an assumption.  I was not sure you were the one.  I know now that you are."  He spoke to Max then looked to his Colonel.  "I am pretty sure that I know where Pete is.  Man needs his whiskey, you know.  Shall we go have a talk with him?"

"The time is near..." Their voices trailed off as they walked away seemingly ignoring Max.  The weird thing was their mouths.  They were not actually talking, but Max could hear every word spoken.  Then she heard both men laughing at her realization that she could hear their thoughts.  She started to follow, but both men phased out right before her eyes and she could see nothing anywhere near her.  "She will learn…"  One of them thought.  "It is already within her."


	2. Chapter Two

**The High Place**

Part Two

Her pager sounded startling her and she became woozy, but held her balance and shook off the effects of the link these men seemed to be extending to her.  Looking at her pager, she saw it was Original Cindy calling her to Crash.  She headed off at a good pace keeping her senses on overload to see anything out of the ordinary.  She was not safe yet but had one less hunter to worry about it seemed.

Max arrived at The Crash about twenty minutes later and found Cindy standing at the bar talking with a cute blonde goddess.

"Not interrupting anything am I?"  She asked as she walked up.

"Not at all, boo."  OC said.  "How are you?"

"I am having the strangest day.  You remember those guys fighting on the needle a couple weeks back?"

"Yeah."

"I ran into the tall one today.  He is apparently a military Colonel."  Max explained so that Cindy would understand, but the Blonde wouldn't get any classified information.  She ended it.  "It's just been a weird day.  Can I get a beer Nick?"

"Sure thing Max."  The bartender said.

"Max, this is Candice.  Candy, this is my roommate, Max."

"Nice to meet you."  Max said.  "I'll let you two continue your conversation while I go check in on Herbal and Sketchy."  Max nodded to the two girls as she picked up her beer.

When Cindy walked over to the table a short while later, Sketchy, Herbal and Max all looked up waiting for the good or bad news.  Original Cindy looked at all of them until Sketchy broke the silence.

"I didn't know you went for blondes?"  Herbal asked.

"Don't usually, but that is one fine female."  OC said.

"Did you get the digits?"

"Better than that.  I got me a genuine date with a fine ass lickety-chick.   Max honey, could you maybe crash at your boy's pad tomorrow night.  We're going to fix dinner and watch a movie and stuff."  OC said for the benefit of the men but Max knew there would be no movies on the TV.  Sketchy groaned.

"Sure.  I'll make Logan fix me dinner."  Max said.  She looked at Sketchy who was staring at something over by the pool table.  Max had her back to it.

"What's up Sketch?  You've been distracted all night."

"I want to play some pool, but those old guys won't let anyone near the table."  Max and OC turned to look at them.  Max recognized them immediately.  The Colonel and Ramsey smiled and nodded.  She knew they had been aware of her all along, but cursed herself for not realizing they were here.  She walked over to the table and stood a few feet away sizing up the third member of the party as she approached.  He looked at her when she stopped walking.

"This is her?"

"This is her."  The Colonel said.

"She's cute.  I'm Pete."  He offered his hand.  "I have heard much about you."

Max looked at The Colonel.  The Colonel looked at Max.  She looked at Ramsey.

"Pete won't hurt you.  We are in a bar.  This is his sacred ground."  Ramsey said.  Pete and the Colonel laughed.

Max watched the man drain half a bottle of whiskey in one long gulp.

"That's not exactly healthy."  She said noticing a collection of bottles on the table against the wall.  "Neither is a soldier's life."  Pete spoke quietly.    "Walk away, Max.  Go to that boyfriend of yours and raise some fat babies.  Live happily ever after.  You know we know that is what you really want from him.  A life you can be proud of.  A happy life without strife.  You two can make it work from what The Colonel tells me.  I would suggest you do it."

Max was stunned as this man chatted calmly about her personal struggle in the war of emotions regarding Logan.  It wasn't really possible with Manticore and Eyes Only.

"This is not about Eyes Only Max nor is this about Manticore.  We speak of your heart and its connection to Logan's.  Your blood is inside of him.  That links you two completely."  Max thought of the dream.  She thought of the dance as she first transfused him on his deathbed.  "Exactly Little One.  You pulled him from the depths of the abyss he was falling into at great personal risk to yourself.  You love him and he loves you.  I picked up on that when I first saw you two together.  You'll be alone with him tomorrow night.  You should tell him, talk it over with him."  Ramsey said.

"How did you know..."  She stopped remembering the Psionic thing.  "Right."

"So is that your unit over there so confused about why you are talking to old grunts like us?"  Ramsey asked.

"I would hardly call you grunts.  I saw your war records.  You guys are the stuff of legend."

"We do what we have to."  Pete said.  "I like you.  Colonel.  She is safe from me.  I will not attack her, but I cannot speak for the Zukini."

"The Zukini?"

"He is the last of us so far accounted for here in Seattle.  We can communicate, but we do not know his location although I believe..."  Pete turned and faced east.  "Yes definitely."

"I'll go."  Ramsey said.  "I'm not into this tonight anyway."  With that said, he turned and walked off without a word.

"Where's he going?"  Max asked.

"To Kill the Zukini."  Pete Said.

Max sat down and watched Pete shoot pool.  He seemed unconcerned that his buddy was about to kill another one.  It was all so cold.  She shuddered at the thought trying not to think about Ben.  The Colonel looked at her.

"How can you deal with it?"

"How do you deal with it?"  He asked her knowing she meant killing a brother.

"Somehow, I think it was different for me."  Max said.  "I took Ben's life to protect him from Manticore.  They would have taken him and locked him in a basement back at the facility and used him for experiments until he was nothing more than an organ donor.  I couldn't let that happen.  With you guys, it just seems so matter of fact like you have always known when you were going to die."  She watched Pete finish his bottle of whiskey in a second long gulp and then walk toward her.  He held out his hand as a slow song started playing on the Juke.

"Would you dance with me?"  Pete asked.  "I have to go soon and I would like to go away happy.  It's just one song."

Max smiled as the man spun her onto the open floor and began a comfortable and gentlemanly dance.  When the song ended, he bowed low and smiled.  With a quiet thank you, he turned and left telling the Colonel he would be outside… waiting.

"You're going to go kill him."  Max stated.

"No.  He is going to take a meditation as his exit.  I will sit with him until he is gone."

"Can I come?"  Max asked.  She sounding like a little girl asking her father if she could go with him.

"Not this time."  When The Colonel phased out of the room, Max could hear OC over the music.  "What the hell!"

"What the hell is going on?"  OC asked as she rushed over behind Max.  Max seemed nonchalant about the whole thing.  "Who were those guys?  Are you in danger?  We've got to get you to Logan."

Max reached out and hugged OC with a smile.  "I have to go talk to Logan anyway.  I will be home in about two hours and I promise I will explain everything to you when I get there.  Please.  I am in no danger.  You are in no danger, but the next few days are going to be very dark."

"I don't understand."  Original said.

"I don't either really."  She said with a soft touch to her friends shoulder.  "I'll see you in a little bit."

Logan was pouring over records on his computer screen when Max pushed her head around the corner.  She smiled weakly and said 'hi.'  He looked up at her with concern on his face as she suddenly found herself flashing back to all the personal moments she had with this man and she realized she was indeed in love with him.  Her soldier's training kicked in and she fought with herself to control it and just enjoy the feeling of the moment.  Logan turned away from his computer and looked deep into her eyes.

"Something happened."

"Something did happen, but I'm safe."  She glanced at his computer screen and saw a picture of Pete.  "He is dead now also.  The Colonel said there were only a few left.   Ramsey killed one they call The Zukini and the rest of them however few there may be are apparently not making themselves known.  Their Psionics seem to only be effective in the city or at least an area of approximate size."

"I know this Zukini guy.  It is his alias.  He is or was a very highly trained operative before the experiment, mainly assassinations.  He has deleted several hundred corrupt and dangerous officials over the years.  He is an expert at several forms of combat and has even worked on the development of some new military weaponry.  He seems to be very dangerous."

"Ramsey went after him."

"I thought Ramsey was the one after you."

"He was testing The Colonel.  I get the feeling that those two are orchestrating this whole thing so it comes down to just the two of them.  They seem to be even older friends than Colonel and Pintauro."

"Max."  Logan said.  She knew the tone.  He was worried about her and her safety and he was the one stuck in a wheel chair.  She would never get sick or fall victim to minor injury and she could wipe out a whole room of trained operatives and this wheel chair bound genius of a man was worried for her safety.

"I know Logan, but The Colonel has been there three times now to protect me.  Ramsey turned out to be a good guy and Pete and The Zukini are gone or will be very soon."

"Do we know whose left?"

"Can we check the files?"  She asked pulling up a chair and putting an arm on Logan's shoulder.  He looked at her as she smiled and squeezed his shoulder gently.  He smiled as they searched the files together.

"It seems The Colonel was not a military man.  He has three PHDs from very prestigious university core programs.  He has undergrads from ASU and graduate degrees in Philosophy, Psychology and Theoretical Physics from MIT, UC Berkeley and ASU in reverse order.  He is the oldest of the group and apparently he volunteered for the assignment as a personal favor to a friend of his family.  He was 28 when he joined the program.  The others were much younger except for Ramsey.  He seems to be the only real officer among the group.  The others were promoted after the training mostly to Captain.  Two of them died in combat early on in the program.  Two more were killed by a group of X-6 in the lower elevations of Madagascar and we know that three more have died here in Seattle which leaves five."

"Two of which we know to be Ramsey and The Colonel."  Max said.  She had absentmindedly begun gently rubbing Logan's back.  "Ramsey is starting to show signs of weakness.  I could see it in his eyes under the Space Needle.  He is weak."

"How weak?"

"I don't know.  He seemed fine as he left Crash, but..."

"He was at Crash?"

"Three of them were.  Pete and the Colonel and Ramsey but he left to confront the Zukini.  It was hard to look in his eyes as he left.  It was like I wasn't allowed to see he was weakening.  Logan, I don't know what to do.  I am sick of the killing.  I am tired of the battles and then I find out about this.  These guys were the guinea pigs for the prototype I became.  These guys went into this knowing they would just stop one day and yet they go on each day living it to the fullest.  The end is coming and they don't even seem phased.  Logan I don't understand."  She said.  Now it was his turn to recognize the tone.  He reached up and took her arm sliding his hand along her forearm until he was holding her hand.  She wanted to smile, but couldn't.

"Max.  I thought you were gone once and I gave up.  I didn't try to fight and when I was lying on my deathbed, you came to me and gave yourself to me by way of a transfusion.  I had accepted death.  I can still feel it coming for me but I know that as long as you are here with me, I will not give in to it.  Death comes to all living things.  It is inevitable.  You just have to accept it and move on.  These warriors know what they are doing and they know what is coming.  They are dealing with it as warriors do.  I don't like it anymore than you do, but what is there for us?  We are lesser beings compared to them but at the same time, they are lesser beings compared to us.  We have lives to live for a long time to come and they are at the end of theirs."

"It sucks, Logan.  It's all bullshit.  Manticore types in the pre-pulse government destroyed these men, gave them a distinct lifespan and then released them to the world."

"They escaped, just like you actually."  Logan stopped when Max's pager blipped.  Max looked at it.

"It Cindy.  She's waiting for me."

"Be careful.  There are still a few of them left and WE don't know where they are."

"I will.  You know I will.  Hey, Logan.  Can you fix me dinner tomorrow night.  Cindy got a new girl and wants to be alone in the apartment."

"I think I can whip something up."

"Another Cale masterpiece."

"For you, always a Cale Masterpiece."  They laughed and hugged and Max left.  Logan just sat there staring after her as she walked out the front door reveling in the hug she just gave him.

She walked into her house and found Cindy sitting on the couch.  She was watching the television but turned it off when Max came in.  Max sat beside her on the couch and explained the whole situation right down to the few that were left.

"So these guys are after your adrenaline?"

"Not exactly."

  
          "But you said..."

"I know, but The Colonel has assured my safety.  I really don't think I am in any danger.  Twice now, he has phased in from nowhere to protect me when his men got close to me."

"You mean like he did at Crash when he just sort of disappeared."

"Yeah."  Max said.  Cindy grabbed her hand and started to work on her nails.

"What are you doing?"  Max asked.

"I already did mine for tomorrow and you have a date tomorrow night.  I told you that guys aren't obvious about this stuff, but they like a woman who minds the details.  So tell me about this Colonel of yours.  What's he like?"

"He is a great man and a magnificent warrior.  He has three Doctorates and he actually volunteered for the program as a favor for a friend."

"Are you telling me he gave up his freedom to be a guinea pig for your Manticore project?  Because that's just ridiculous."

  
          "Yeah.  He is basically going to die now.  I wouldn't be here without him, though."  Max said.

"That's pretty deep."  OC said.  "Do you really believe that?"

  
          "He gave his body so they could see what could be tweaked in human DNA..."

"Actually."  Ramsey said as he walked heavily into the room.  "That's not exactly what they were doing."  He collapsed on the floor in front of the kitchen counter.  Max had jumped across the table and was standing over Ramsey.

"What happened?"  Max asked.  "Where are you hit?"

Ramsey laughed, coughing up something not quite blood or bile.  "I need..." he coughed again.  "I need adrenaline..."

"Not from me..."  Max was unsure.

"No.  Not from you but I need your help.  In my pocket is a case.  You will have to do it..." he started coughing.  Max demanded to know where The Zukini or The Colonel were.  Ramsey demanded she get the needle first.  "Please."  He said.

"What do I do?"  She asked.

"The needle.  You know anatomy.  Slide it in and withdraw 50 ccs.  Then you will have to inject it into my shoulder.  Hurry..."  Max looked to his exposed neck and inserted the needle.  She withdrew the clear viscous fluid and immediately injected into his shoulder.  He started shuddering and shaking violently and Cindy started to freak out.  Max stepped back and Cindy grabbed her shoulders as she stood safely behind the strangely calm prototype that was her roommate.  After a few minutes Ramsey passed out and stopped shaking.  Max stepped over to him and checked his pulse.  It was running about a hundred beats a minute but felt strong.  As she held her fingers on his neck she could feel it slowing to a smoother pace.  She pulled away when he opened his eyes.

"Thank you."  He coughed as he sat up and reached into his coat.  He pulled out about ten thousand dollars.  He handed it to Max, but she held up her hand.

"You don't need to..."

"It is from The Zukini.  He won't need it anymore."  He interrupted Max.  "I don't need Zukes money anyway.  He looked down to where he had slobbered.  "Buy yourself a new carpet."  

"Sounds like a plan, boo."  Cindy said.  "You're the guy from the Crash."  She took the money from the man then added.  "You want something to eat or drink?"

"Food would be good.  Anything is fine."  Ramsey looked up into Cindy's eyes.  "You are not afraid of me."  He said.

"Not really, just startled.  My girl could have handled you easily enough when you came in.  I don't get any bad vibes from you.  It's all in the attitude."

"It's a shame really."  Ramsey said when Cindy walked into the kitchen.

"I could really fall for a girl like that, but..." he trailed off as Max connected the lesbian thing to the Psionics.  She laughed.

"That's Original Cindy.  She is my best friend.  You're safe here but you have to tell me what happened so we can tell The Colonel."

"The Colonel already knows but he is still with Pete.  It will be over soon."  Ramsey said.

"Why did you come here?"

"I knew you would be here."  He lifted himself from the floor and Max grabbed his arm.

"Easy."  Was all she said as Ramsey walked over to admire the Ninja.  "The Colonel and I used to ride."

Max looked at him as she bent to pick up the needle and case it had been in.  "Does the Colonel get his supply the same way?"  Max asked handing him the small black case.

"Yes.  It is why we will go on but the others will not.  As the CO of Team Two I decided along with the Colonel that we should let the others go until such a time as is upon us.  We made the decision for our men.  The violent seizure is enough to kill weaker folk and the heart feels like it will explode during the whole thing..."

"Why do you do it then?"  OC asked.

"I want to live.  So what if I endure a little pain every few months.  I will at least be alive until such a day as my heart cannot take it and stops one day.  It is the path I have chosen."

"How long have you known The Colonel?"  Max asked.

Ramsey smiled.  "We were three I think.  Maybe four.  It was 1971.  I was at the cemetery with my mother visiting my grandpaps grave.  My dad was getting drunk at a bar called Frogs Place in our hometown.  I saw the Colonel climb out of the car with his mother.  The graves were side by side.  He and I wandered off while our mothers spoke.  We have known each other ever since.  Best friends.  Perfect enemies.  You know, old stumping buddies."

"Sounds like you really like the guy."  OC said.  "Foods ready."

"I do."  Max laughed as she sat down next to Ramsey at the kitchen counter.  The phone rang and Max answered.

"Hey."

"Hi Logan.  Whassup?"

"Uh I found something you should probably want to look at."  He said as Max stood up.  Ramsey reached out and took her arm.  He shook his head and pulled her back into her seat.  "Max?  Are you there?"

  
          "Yeah, Logan.  I'm here with Cindy and a friend."  She put her hand over the phone.  "What?"

"He found out something about your genetic makeup.  Where you came from.  Ask him if it has something to do with the male donor of your DNA."

"Logan.  Is this about my DNA?"  She asked.

"Yeah?  How did you know?"  He asked.  "Is The Colonel with... oh, Ramsey."  He said.  "I know you are safe, but there is something you should know."

"What the hell is going on?!?"  Cindy had dropped her fork into her food when she heard Logan's voice.

"Hello Cindy.  This is hard to explain, but these warriors have this Psionic ability and they can open up peoples minds at will."

"Not exactly Logan, but close enough for jazz."

"That is how you phase out."  Logan said suddenly.  Max realized simultaneously with Logan.  Cindy picked up on the thoughts as well but did not fully understand them.

"It's like a Magick trick.  You phase out when you make people forget you are there.  You make them think you disappeared when you are actually still there beside them."  Max thought.

"This is trippin' Boo.  OH MY!"  OC yelled as Ramsey just disappeared right in front of her without leaving the chair.  Max saw it too, but she reached out and grabbed his arm even though she could not see it.  Logan started to laugh as if he was in the room.  He wasn't even holding the phone to his ear anymore.

"What should I know Logan?  Ramsey, what's going on?"

"Your DNA."  Ramsey thought.

"What about my DNA?"  Max thought back with urgency.  Logan was startled when he realized she was getting the hang of this Psionic thing.

"You're DNA Max.  The DNA for the whole X-5 series.  Manticore bought The DNA and Sperm of a group of soldiers that had taken part in a secret government experiment back in the late eighties.  Max.  Your genetic makeup and the sperm that fertilized your egg at Manticore came from The Colonel.  Max.  He is your father."

  
          'MAX!'  Cindy thought frantically as Ramsey caught her lightly shaking form in his arms.  Logan thought about tryptophan and Cindy found herself running into the bathroom and returning with her pills.  Ramsey wanted to know what it was but Logan assured him she needed it.  Cindy got Max to swallow two pills before she passed out and he carried her to the couch.  He turned and walked over to Original Cindy.  She stepped back as he reached out for her.

"I'm fine.  No need to be comforting me."  She thought.

"You won't be when I sever the link."  Ramsey's thoughts came to her.

"Logan?"  She thought.  "It's true Cindy.  I was out for an hour the first time this happened.  You'll be fine in about an hour.  I promise."

Cindy collapsed into Ramsey's arms when he severed the link and he carried her toward the Xena poster and found a bed behind a makeshift wall of plywood and old blankets.  He set her gently into it.

"She's going to be fine, right?"  Logan's thoughts betrayed his concern for the girls.

"No harm will come to them.  I swear, Mr. Cale.  I will protect them.  Do you always just dump information on her like that?"

"How else am I supposed to tell her?"  He turned defensive.  Ramsey was surprised when parts of Logan's mind closed off from him suddenly showing a level of control that he didn't know existed.  "We have an agreement.  I tell her what I learn about Manticore and how it involves her..."

"But you don't tell her everything do you, Mr. Cale?"

"Not always."  Logan admitted.

"You may not have that choice in time."  He severed the link and went to check on Max.

Max opened her eyes and saw Ramsey standing over her.  He seemed concerned.  Max got a wild look in her eyes when she couldn't hear anyone, but relaxed when Ramsey told her to do so.

"Where's Cindy?"  Max asked.  Ramsey explained.

"Is it true and how was Cindy involved in that?"

"I opened the conversation to her when I realized what it was that your boyfriend was going to tell you."

"Why didn't the Colonel tell me?"

  
          "Until a few minutes ago.  He didn't know.  They took those samples from us when we entered the program.  We never heard of them again.  They have such samples from all of us as well as millions of other soldiers."  He said.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't know."

"Can I see the Colonel?"

  
          "Yeah.  I'll take you to him.  Bring your bike."

  
  


A few minutes later, Max was pushing her bike out into the street.  She climbed on and told Ramsey to get on, but he was already turning down an alley at the edge of the building.  She revved her ride and could hear something louder and heavier and Ramsey rode out on a very old Panhead red and black with royal blue stripes on either side.  She rolled up beside him with a huge smile on her face.  He smiled back.

They rode for an hour through two checkpoints and into Logan's district.  There was a small park across the street from Logan's.  She and Max had walked there several times.  She was surprised to see Logan sitting in his wheelchair as she approached the small fire burning in the eerily lit patch of trees at the center of the park.

Logan reached out and touched Max as she walked by him.  She smiled down at him and went over to kneel by the fire.  She watched as The Colonel wrapped Pete in the blanket he had and covered his head.  Ramsey squatted by the two men and Max knew they were communicating.  Logan rolled over to her and she leaned back into his legs as he gently stroked her hair with his right hand.  Ramsey picked up the body and started to walk off.

"Why is Logan here?"

"It will be easier.  I didn't know and I figure it will be easier if you have someone familiar near.  I sent for him after I found out."

"I was here as Pete took his last breath..."  Logan said.  He understood Max a little better now.  He also understood something about himself that he never really accepted.

"What do we do?"  Max asked.

"I don't know."

"I never had a father before.  At least I never believed I would find out my genes came from a single man."

"I've never had a child and now I find I have one.  It's not exactly easy for me to grasp the concept either.  I don't really know what to do."

  
          "Why don't we go inside and you two can talk about it while I fix dinner.  I'll Call Cindy since she was in on the whole thing.  It might make it easier for all involved if we are around to get over the first hurdle."

The Colonel was suddenly standing.  His eyes were cast off in no particular direction as he seemed to be analyzing a situation of some kind only he knew about.  He looked down at Max.  There was a pained look in his face.

"I'm sorry.  There is a situation and I have to go."

"What situation?"

  
          "The Last three of us have arrived.  Akira intercepted Ramsey and Pete and now they are fighting.  The other two are around here somewhere.  You two get into the penthouse immediately."

"I can help."  Max protested.

"No you can't."  It was a flat emotionless remark he made before running about twenty yards and then stopping as he looked around toward building tops.  He shook his head and ran off in a northerly direction.

Logan was wheeling himself up to a path at the crest of the ridge.  Max helped him but stopped turning around as if trying to connect herself to her new found father or Ramsey.  She looked at Logan.

"Something is wrong."

"Let's get inside, Max."

"I have to follow him."

"He told us to get back to my place.  Max you are not a match for these guys.  You cannot expect to do anything but get in the way."

"What do you know, dammit.  That's apparently my father out there and what if I don't follow him.  What if he doesn't make it and I never get to know the man that I came from."

"Max... I, please be careful."

She was off like a shot when she got the blessing he didn't want to give her.  "Be careful!"  He shouted.  But he had never seen her move so fast before and she was gone in a second.  He rolled back toward Fogle towers coming up on the playground when he realized there was someone watching him.  He spun the chair and surveyed the area but saw nothing.  It was then he felt something cold reaching out to him from the small crop of trees behind him.  He turned, instinctively rolling backwards from his present location as he saw a dark figure enshrouded in tattered rags jumping from the tree tops and heading for him at tremendous speed.  He fell back in his chair as he rolled down an embankment to a grassy area as another figure moved from out of nowhere to intercept the flying assailant.

The fighting was furious and Logan could do nothing but lay there and try to watch the activity of the two warriors.  The movements were untraceable and there was no way Logan could tell which one was which as the techniques all blurred into the movements and the punches became kicks which spun into blocking and more movement.  Logan did not even consider anyone was behind him when he felt something hit the back of his head and then he knew only blackness.

The fight was over quickly and the Colonel caught the slight movement under the hill as he saw the third one of the group move into the scene and take Logan away unconscious.  The Colonel threw an awkward foot swing with precise timing and the energy of the flow allowed him to launch himself unexpectedly at his assailant.  The rag man knew almost instantly he had lost.  That he had not seen the relative simplicity of the energy flow as three fingers punctured his neck.  His head whipped impossibly, the Colonel ripping his throat clean from the man's neck and landing softly on his feet behind the collapsing lifeless body.

"JOHNSON!"  The Colonel shouted.  He knew Johnson heard him.  They all heard him.

Max climbed the fire escape on the outside using her arms and legs instead of climbing the looping stairs.  She could hear the voices of Ramsey and another man on the roof.

"So old buddy.  Timons is dead and The Good ole Colonel is after Akira.  Where's that leave us?"

"I'm going to kill you.  Simple.  Isn't it?"

  
          Max could hear the scuffle as she approached the rooftop from the fire escape.  She reached the top just as this Johnson hit Ramsey three times real hard and Ramsey went down.  He walked around behind Ramsey and stood there.  His hands came out to Ramsey's neck after he muttered something to the man below him.

"NOOOOOooooooo!!!"  Max screamed as she charged the two men.  Ramsey took the opportunity to mortally wound the enemy.  He would be dead soon, but was not gone, yet.  Johnson moved his hands on Ramsey and snapped his neck.  Ramsey's body slumped as he turned to the approaching attacker.

The man dodged Max's first attack and turned to face her.  She stood stalking him in a circular pattern.  She could see the blood almost pouring from his side where Ramsey had wounded him.

"You must be the girl."

"Yeah.  Never seen one before?"

"Smart ass little bitch.  You are no match for me."

"Maybe not, but you are mortally wounded.  You killed my friend and now I am going to kill you."  Max attacked with a flying spin kick to his head.  He dodged and spun her in the air.  She landed and threw a spinning windmill style kick in three successive spins to him.  He only dodged one kick and was knocked to the roof.

He kicked up spinning to a stance and returned the same technique on Max.  He only connected once before he fell to one knee. 

"Attack now.  Hurry!"

The words come to her from somewhere else.  Her only thought was a single word.  One she didn't understand.  "Dad..."

"ATTACK NOW!!!"  The voice commanded and Max launched into the kneeling man spinning his neck and breaking his jaw in the process.  She stood holding his body by the head in her arms as The Colonel came up to the roof.  She looked into his eyes as he approached her.  Her hands let go dropping Johnson's body and she ran over to the Tall Man.  Her Father.

"Little One has so much more meaning now.  You're okay, kiddo."  He said as they walked over to look down at Ramsey's body.

"Dad."  Max said again noting the absurdity of its sound but loving the way it made her feel.  'I have a father.' she thought.  'I actually have a dad of my own.'  He let go of her then and knelt beside his oldest friend.  Max stepped back when he made the horrible screaming sound she had first heard up on the Needle what now seems so long ago.

"Why do you do that?"  She asked when he stood

"To warn the old gods that a warrior of the ancient ways is coming to bring CHAOS to their peaceful existence."  He said with a smile and a hand to Max's cheek.  "We have to go.  Akira took Logan.  I was fighting someone.  It was a distraction, but there can only be one reason he took Logan.  He will string him up and drain the man's adrenaline."

"Where are they?"

  
          "I know where they are."  The Colonel said.  "So do you."

"The High Place."  She said.

"What's the quickest way there?"  He asked

"Try to keep up old man."  Max said with a last look to Ramsey's body.  She was off the roof and onto the streets at tremendous speeds dodging and shifting and jumping with the Colonel directly behind her following every step without effort.  In minutes they were both below the Needle looking at each other.  Max had picked up Logan's jacket and had a look of worry on her face.  "He'll know your coming."

"He has known I was coming for some time now, but he doesn't know you are here.  Go up slowly.  I will not let him harm Logan."  He said and with that, he phased out.  Max knew he would be halfway up the tower before she started her climb.  It was then Logan's mind entered hers.

She crouched at the sudden pain wracking her body.

"Max!"

She climbed some more and then felt it again.  She realized Akira was torturing Logan.

"Max.  I'm sorry."  Logan's thoughts reached her.

"I'm coming, Logan!  I'm coming!"  Her thoughts screamed out to him.  "I'm almost there."

She almost fell with the pain she felt.  It was so intense and she looked down to the ground so far below her.  She could hear his physical screaming at the tortures he was receiving at the hands of the sadistic bastard that had kidnapped her best friend and only man she could ever love.

"LOGAN!"  She screamed swinging herself into the old restaurant area.  She landed on her feet expecting to see The Colonel and Akira fighting but they had apparently moved to the roof.  She looked around and saw Logan's limp body hanging shirtless and bloody from an exposed I-beam in the ceiling.  She ran over and pulled him down into her arms.  His breath was erratic and choppy, but he was alive.  She pulled his jacket from her waist and wrapped it around him.  She left Logan's unconscious body on the floor as she climbed up to the roof.

The Colonel was circling, stalking Akira and vice versa.  Both men were bleeding from wounds and The Colonel's arm pulled tight to his left side.  He was wounded.

"You cannot win."  Akira said.

"I have a secret weapon."  The Colonel said.

"You mean the girl.  I have just fed on the man's adrenaline.  I am pure now and I know you Colonel."  The words spilled sarcastically from the small Asian man.  "You haven't fed for days.  You are weak.  I will kill you and then drain her and what will you have then?  Nothing!"

Akira lunged in perfect rhythm with the battle's energy.  Max tried to move, but found that she could not.  She was outmatched and she knew it.  

The battle raged for a few minutes as each man attacked and countered.  Akira was fast and furious and his attacks were relentless but The Colonel seemed to understand where and when Akira would be.  He matched each technique perfectly with his own counter-attack.  Both men jumped and dodged and twisted as they fought on the edge of the space needle.  One would meet their end tonight.  Max hoped, prayed it was the Colonel.

Akira stepped back and pondered his Colonel.  He was smiling.  He believed he had won.  Max could see it in his eyes.  The Colonel was hunched and breathing heavily.  His left arm was practically useless at this point.  Akira was bloodied and beaten but he didn't seem to be in immediate danger.  With a shout, Akira lunged and the Colonel rolled to the side at the last minute sticking his foot into Akira's where his lunge had taken him.  Max could hear the bones crushing under the tall one's heel.  She could hear Akira screaming as he tumbled over the edge of the Space Needle.  The Colonel rolled and pulled himself up to his feet near the edge.  He looked down to see Akira hanging there looking up at him.

"Let go."  The Colonel said.

"Do you really believe she's your daughter?"

"She believes.  That is enough for me.  Now let go."  Max was standing beside him looking down also.

"SIR!  YES SIR!"  Akira shouted as he saluted, his body falling into the darkness below.  Max looked up at The Colonel.  Her Father had snapped to attention and saluted.  A very dull thud sounded and both knew he had died on impact.  Max suddenly realized she was saluting as rain started to fall about them.

"Go to him girl.  He needs you right now."

"What about you?"

"Go."

"I can help you."

"Logan needs you right now.  He needs you close to him.  I'll be okay."

Reluctantly, she walked away.

She was beside Logan in a few seconds as she pulled him up into her arms.  His breathing had steadied somewhat but he was still unconscious.  Max felt miserable as she remembered what had brought her here.  She believed she had failed him.  "Oh God, Logan.  I'm sorry.  I should never have left you.  You don't deserve this.  I'm not worthy of you."

When she started to shake, she cursed herself for being a genetic failure.  She struggled to get to her tryptophan while trying to hold onto Logan.  When she finally took the pills amidst her tears and anger at the last few minutes of her life, she drifted off as she always does after heavy seizures.  She never let go of Logan, though.

_She opened her eyes to find herself standing at the head of a large table.  There were many people around.  All of them laughing and talking.  There were kids arguing at a smaller table further away and she knew it was Thanksgiving and everyone had come over to have dinner at her place.  __Cindy__ was there and Herbal Thought and was that Jondy?  Jondy looked up and smiled at her._

_"Maxie.__  You guys really know how to do Thanksgiving."_

_"Yeah, Maxie.__  I can't get over how much __Zachary__ looks like him since they got older."  Brin said._

_Max__ looked at Jondy and Brin.  They were all older, in their early forties.  She looked down at her hand and looked at the jewelry there.  Her left hand was empty except for a simple diamond ring.  Twenty-two small diamonds around.  It was a wedding ring.  She looked around for __Logan__ but he wasn't there._

_"Maxie.__  Is anything wrong?"  Someone asked.  She turned looking into Brin and __Cindy__'s eyes._

_"I'm just worried is all.  He said he would be here soon.  He said he had an errand to run and would be right over."  She looked over Brin's shoulder as Zane walked into the room with Krit and Syl who had been in the living room watching the TV and laughing.  They looked worried and came to see if __Max__ was okay.  Some kids zipped here and darted there almost too fast for anyone to follow.  Someone shouted at them to stop running.  _

_She felt surprised that they were all here but she didn't know what to say to them.  She started to feel uncomfortable until she felt something in her mind.  He was here.  HE was actually here and she could feel him all around her mind.  They had no secrets from each other, but today, he was blocking something.  __Max__ looked around the room at the kids running as she left the dining room and actually ran to the front door._

_She swung the door open.  Everyone had followed her out of the room and through the penthouse apartment.  The elevator door opened and __Zach__ stood there in the middle.  He smiled as he opened the door and held open his arms._

_"Maxie."__  He yelled.  A young blonde boy stood stoic and steady beside him.  A woman of absolute Italian beauty hung on his arm.  He hugged _Max___.  She hugged _Max___.  "It's good to be back, sis."  He said.  Everyone was talking to __Zach__._

_"Hello, Aunt __Max__."  Said the boy with __Zach__ as the children then ran off into the penthouse to play._

_"Hi yourself sport."  She said as she rubbed the fuzz on top of his head.  She turned back to the elevator just as the doors closed.  A tear escaped her eye as she walked back into the apartment.  She had been sure it was him._

_Max__ vaguely heard the elevator squeak its door chime.  She turned back to the door and found him standing there.  He reached out and she felt a hand on her face lightly sliding across her forehead._

_"__Logan__."  She said._

_"I'm right here, __Angel__."  He said.  "I'm sorry, __Angel__, I didn't mean for it to take so long."_

_"__Logan__, you're here."  She yelled reaching up and pulling him into her arms._

_"You bet, __Angel__ girl.  How are you feeling?"_

_  
          "I'm okay, but I don't know where you went."_

_"I blocked you from me for a time so I could surprise you."  He said._

_"Surprise?"__  She asked smiling._

_"How are you?"  The strong voice of an old man standing in her doorway asked.  "How is my favorite Little One?"  She recognized the nickname right away._

_"Daddy?"__  She said feeling the now familiar sound of the once strange word but knowing it to be true.  "Dad.  Is that you?"_

_"Sure is Little One.  A little late but no worse for the wear."_

Max opened her eyes and looked up to see she was still in the Needle.  She looked down into her arms but Logan was not there anymore.  He was behind her leaning against a broken wall, holding her in his arms.  She turned but he winced.

"Logan!"  She said.

"Its okay, Angel.   I'm just a little sore.  Don't move to fast.  In fact stay here with me for a while.  It's raining out there and The Colonel is going to rig a harness for me in a little bit since I can't walk.  We'll get down soon."

Max looked out over the rain soaked city.  She turned her head up to Logan.  He smiled.  She closed her eyes and they kissed.  The moment was almost perfect.

"Logan?"

"I remember.  I felt it too.  It's our perfect possible future Max.  I hope it turns out that way."

"It will if you both work toward that goal."  The Colonel said suddenly.  "Well, I'm off to get a few things.  Rest up Max, I'll need your help getting him down."

"What about you, Colonel?"  Logan asked.

"I'll be fine.  I just need to move around.  Be back before you know it."  He winked.  Then he jumped.  Max and Logan saw the parachute open this time.  She leaned up to kiss Logan as he tilted his head down to hers.

'Logan.'

'Yes Maxie?'

'I love you.'

She pulled herself closer to him and snuggled in his strong arms.  He pulled her closer still and kissed her forehead.   'I know, Angel.  I love you, too.'

Neither had spoken the words.

Pretty shippy at the end huh?  Yeah, well, these things happen.  I wrote this one night when I was bored during first season so I didn't know about Father and the 'special little one' stuff.  It just happened that way.

It's just a story that is connected to nothing in particular that I am currently working on.  I wrote in late one night and haven't figured out what I could possibly do with it that makes any sense.

Let me know what you think.

Later…


End file.
